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SonicSpike sends word of an FAA report that a small, remote-controlled aircraft was nearly struck by an American Airlines passenger jet as the jet was preparing to land. The pilot saw it briefly as he flew by — it was close enough that he was sure it stuck the plane, but no damage was found upon inspection. Jim Williams, head of the FAA's drone office, said the incident highlights the risk of ubiquitous, unregulated drone use. He said,
"The risk for a small UAS to be ingested into a passenger airline engine is very real. The results could be catastrophic." The article notes that the FAA "currently bans the commercial use of drones in the United States and is under growing pressure to set rules that would permit their broader use. Hobby and many law-enforcement uses are permitted. Last year, the agency began establishing test sites where businesses can try out commercial uses."

Knowing what the government is capable of (Gulf of Tonkin incident and others), I'm wondering how unlikely it would be for the FAA to have sent one of their own or someone from another 3 letter agency in the government out with an RC plane and purposely flew it in a manner to create this situation just for the purpose of justifying their stance on drones.

I mean it's an RC plane being called a drone, it's breaking the law that already exists, and the article is talking about regulations the FCC is working on as well as the "need" for new regulations and after an investigation, the pilot of the drone couldn't be found. It's just ripe for a justification to be heavy handed and entwined with them from a regulatory position. Now think of the children and all that.

Why do commercial airliners have implicit ownership of the airspace? Until recently there's been no practical obstacle to this, but with cheap RC planes becoming available, the democratization of the lower few thousand feet is inevitable.